From Mustapha Adamu, Kano
KanInvest & Diaspora, in partnership with UK-based Company, LINKS and Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), has secured a whopping N10 billion intervention fund from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to revive companies that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The revival project, tagged Turnaround Project, is targeting for intervention, at least fifty companies that had been affected by the pandemic, but not totally collapsed.
Speaking at the opening of a Sensitization Meeting on Kano State Turnaround Project, held at government house yesterday, the Director General of the KanInvest & Diaspora, Hama Ali Ware, said the programme is to facilitate the turnaround objectives of various companies that had been affected by COVID-19 pandemic.
She said the project entails the support of funds and professionals to chart a way of how to revive the affected companies in order to continue flourishing in the state, which has made a name as the commercial hub of northern Nigeria.
According to her, the CBN initially donates the sum of N10 billion to the agency for takeoff of the project, adding that the apex bank agreed to add more funds if there is need.
She explained that the agency would interface with the affected companies on one-by-one basis to get information about the problem it is facing and see the ways to support it.
“We will sit down and discuss with the companies, one by one, not crowd. Through that way, we will gather information about the problem of a company and see the way to support it.
“ KanInvest & Diaspora, in collaboration with MAN and LINKS decided to come up with this initiative in order to support our affected industries because it is a worrisome situation to see industries affected by COVID-19 and other problems are not functioning in Kano, which is known as the commercial nerve centre of northern Nigeria,” she said
The DG also explained that the agency had produced what she described as expression of interest form for interested companies, announcing that the deadline day for the submission of the application is 25th February, 2021.
She further explained that the door would be open to any company until the application reached at least fifty, adding that “from then, we will see if they could exhaust the N10 billion or not.”
In his remarks, the President of MAN, Ahmed Mansur, called for efforts by the state government and other stakeholders to bring back the lost glory of Kano in terms of industrialization.
According to him, a study had shown that about 50 percent of industries in Kano have either reduced the capacity of their production or closed down completely due to COVID-19 and other issues.
He therefore called for collaborative efforts to revive the industries in Kano, noting that it would be an effective way to provide job opportunities for the teeming youth in the state and bring peace and harmony.
On his part, the state governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje expressed delight about the project, pleading to support it in order to yield fruitful results.
According to Ganduje, his administration had come up with various programmes aimed at boosting small scale industries in the state.
He pointed out that industries in Kano had been crippled due to activities of smugglers and technology advancement which the country is lagging behind.
